Where the Heart Lies
by SoraForgottenSky
Summary: When Sora, a tenth grade student from Japan, moves to New York City with his older brother Vanitas he prepares himself for the worst. What he doesn't prepare himself for though is the amazing people (and not so amazing people) he meets there, especially Roxas. Sora x Roxas
1. Welcome Home

The sound of beeping filled the room, breaking the spell of sleep cast upon me. The alarm was shrill and piercing. I rolled over and slammed my hand down on the snooze button. The sound died away and I got comfortable in my bed again. "Sora! Get up or you'll be late for school butt-head!" My brother's voice echoed in my room. I opened my eyes wearily to an unfamiliar place that was certainly not my home. I sat up quickly, panicking. The room was light blue and was filled with my things: my desk and computer, my dark blue bed set, my clothes scattered lazily on the floor, my video games, and all my books. All of it was mine and reminded me of home, but the room was different and foreign. "Sora, I'm serious! You better be awake!" I jumped at the sound of my brother's voice again, but it reminded me where I was. This was my room, but not the room I was used to. These were my things, but not where they had once belonged. I had moved here to New York City from Japan a few weeks ago. This was my new home and I lived here with my brother. I stretched and got out of bed causing my blankets to fall on the ground. I went over to my desk chair where my new school uniform laid neatly. The uniform consisted of black pants, a white button up shirt, a blue tie, and a dark blue sweater with a v-neck, that coincidentally showed off the the white collar of the button up and the blue tie. I threw on the uniform quickly and brushed my teeth. I looked in the mirror and made an attempt to make myself look presentable. My eyes were a bright blue which contrasted with my brown hair that had spikes in every direction. I ran my hand through my hair a few times trying to get it to lay one way, but it stayed the way it always did. I gave up knowing it was useless and went into the kitchen to meet my brother, Vanitas.

His eyes glanced up from the table where he was eating. We looked a lot alike, except his coloring was different than mine. He had dark hair with an almost blue tint to it and bright, golden eyes. His hair was spiked messily the same way mine was, and similarly he couldn't ever get it to stay one way. He was two years older than me and was going into his senior year of high school. Our personalities were always quite different too, even when we were younger. He'd always been more quiet and withdrawn, while I was hyper and outgoing. I've always looked up to my brother Vanitas. He could be cold and we fought sometimes, but he was always there for me in his own way. When I was younger I would always follow him around and beg him to play with me. Eventually he would agree and I'd make him play whatever games I could come up with.

Our parents came up with the idea of us moving to America last summer. I was angry at first. My parents were always busy with work and weren't around a lot. This was just their way of shipping us off. They never really cared about what I liked or what I wanted to do. Even when I told them how much art and painting meant to me, they had just rolled their eyes and told me that I had to get a real job someday. They found a private school in New York that was somewhat popular and highly regarded. "It would look good if you were fluent in English and went to a nice school in America." That was their reasoning. They were always hard on Vanitas and I, and they expected us to always excel in school. I never had much of a problem in school, but Vanitas had to work harder for better grades. It just wasn't in his nature to buckle down and study for an upcoming test. Of course is doing good in a normal school in our own country wasn't good enough. So then, our parents decided, without much caring of what me and Vanitas thought, that we would move to America. I had stayed in a sort of vacation house before in America, but I was really little, I hardly revered the trip at all. I had mixed feelings about it, and I was pretty nervous. Our parents assured us we'd be fine and wouldn't budge on their decision. So, Vanitas and I moved to New York City together and here we were.

"I _thought_ you'd never _wake up_." His sentence was a mix of Japanese and English. It was a habit of ours to mix the two together when we were talking to each other. Some things were easier to say in English than in Japanese and vice versa. My English wasn't perfect and I was still learning, but I had a good basic grip on it since I took classes before we moved here. I could speak basic English, but my writing and reading were pretty bad. I didn't understand the grammar well either. I would definitely have to get better if I was gonna pass my classes. "Yeah well you can't beat sleep." I gave him a toothy grin.

He nodded and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Just eat your breakfast already." I grinned and sat at the table and ate some pancakes and a bowl of rice and miso soup. Vanitas looked up at me as he finished his breakfast, "So are you _ready_ for your first day of school?"

I nodded a little, "Yeah I think so, _I'm a little nervous though_."

"Yeah, but it'll be fine. You'll see." I smiled at him more and he gave me an agitated look. I just laughed and finished my breakfast. I put my dishes in the sink and grabbed my backpack. "Thanks Vanitas." I poked his arm lightly, "You better hurry up. You don't want to miss the bus."

"Yeah whatever." Vanitas said in his 'I don't give a fuck' way. I smirked and rolled my eyes and went outside to the bus stop. It was still pretty warm since the summer weather hadn't quite changed to fall and everything was still green. The sidewalks were filled with people walking and streets were filled with cars, taxis, and busses. Even though I didn't like right in the middle of New York City, I still saw the crowds of people and busy traffic. It was different than what I was used to, but something about it was so nice. I loved the feel of the city. I walked down a couple of blocks to where my bus stop was. A few other kids were gathered there and were playing on their phones and listening music. I took out my phone and put my earbuds in. I put on some music and watched the street for the bus. I was nervous, but excited.

The bus pulled down the street just as Vanitas came around the corner. The doors opened and the bus driver looked at me expectantly. I stepped up onto the bus and moved down the aisle. The bus was mostly quiet. It was full of kids who looked deprived of sleep and were already missing summer. Some girls talked in whispers and giggled at each other while some boys chatted a little too loudly. Besides the few that talked the bus was silent and nobody looked up from what they were doing. I was pretty relieved. I picked an empty seat in the middle of the bus and watched outside as the bus driver pulled around the corner. The tall city buildings and all the traffic was nice to look at. We got to another stop and a few girls and a couple guys got on the bus. One girl, with red hair and bright blue eyes stopped and made eye contact with me. She smiled brightly, "Mind if I sit with you?"

I shook my head, "Of course not." She beamed and sat down next to me happily.

"Did you go to Twilight before? I don't think we've met."

"No, I actually moved here from Japan a couple weeks ago."

"Wow, really!? You're English is really good! That's so cool!" I laughed a little at her enthusiasm.

"It's really not that good. I'm still learning, but I can speak it all right."

"No way! You're just being modest. So do you like it here?"

"Yeah, it's really different, but I love the city."

She nodded, "Yeah, it's pretty cool." She looked out the window for a moment and then back at me. "So why'd you decide to go to a private school?" I had nearly forgotten that Twilight High was a private school.

"My parents just decided to send me here, they said it was a nice school." Twilight High was sort of a private school, and basically an alternative to city school. For that reason it was pretty popular.

"It's really great! I know you'll love it. Oh! And my name is Kairi." She smiled and held her hand out to me. I grinned and shook her hand.

"I'm Sora."

"That's a great name." We talked the rest of the way to school. She told me about the school and gave me some tips on high school here. We compared our schedules and classes. We had lunch and art together. We were both sort of disappointed to only have a couple classes together, but we decided those were the best classes anyway. When we got to school I must've looked as lost as I felt. "C'mon Sora, I'll help you find homeroom." She gave me a quick mini tour of the school. "And see to the north the class numbers go up and to the south the class numbers go down and the first number of the classroom matches with the floor number." I nodded taking in what she was telling me. It wasn't so complicated when she explained it. "Thank you so much Kairi."

"It's not a problem!" We smiled at each other for a long moment. I think the same thing when through both of our heads at that moment. Neither of us said anything but we knew we would be best friends and that this was just the beginning. "I'll see you later Sora!"

"Yeah, I'll see you in art." She waved and went down the hallway to her class. I went into the classroom and looked around. Only about half the kids were there yet. There was a couple girls talking loudly and laughing while a group of guys huddled in a corner talking about their summer. Some kids also sat at their desks and texted or played games on their phones.

I picked a seat by the window in the next to last row. The window had a nice view of a small street below with a few small stores and some houses. I watched people walk down the street going about their everyday lives. A few minutes passed and more kids started to come into the classroom. A silver haired boy, who was quite muscular, came towards where I was sitting. He had ear buds in and was playing a game on his phone. He grinned at me for a moment and then sat next to me and went back to playing his game. Something about him stood out to me, but I wasn't sure what it was. A few more girls came in, talking about a cute boy they saw in the hallway. More kids began talking and I started to have a hard time understanding them. I sighed to myself, my English was okay, but it still needed some work. I could have basic conversations like with Kairi this morning, but I wasn't sure how well I would get along in my classes with basic English skills. I wasn't really sure how to build my English though.

I leaned back and pulled a notebook of my backpack that was hanging on the back of my chair. I took out a sketch pencil and started to draw a cherry blossom tree. I drew a the trunk and lightly drew branches that reached across the paper. I smiled as I drew different shapes and lengths of branches. Ever since I was little I've loved art. I loved painting and drawing and all things art. It was my favorite thing to do. I kept drawing for a while and some more kids came into the classroom. One boy had shaggy dark hair and he sat in the front with a couple of girls. Another boy had short white hair and he sat in the back of the classroom by himself. A few more girls came in too, one had blue hair and the other two had brown hair. I watched the other kids curiously. Then another boy walked in. He had spiky blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes. His skin was light and he had a slim body shape. He had long dark eyelashes that made his eyes stand out even more than they already did. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. He wasn't zoned out or blank either. He looked like he was thinking. Like a million things at once were flowing through his mind and he was trying to figure everything out as it happened around him. I couldn't look away from him. He was so intriguing and different. He stood out against everyone else like a flower in a field of dead grass. My eyes were glued to him. He scanned the room with his thoughtful eyes and seemed to be contemplating where to sit. Then, the boy with silver hair looked up from his phone and saw the smaller blonde. He grinned a little. "Hey Roxas!" Roxas. It was a nice name, it had a nice tone to it and it suited him. Roxas looked at the silver haired boy, "Hey Riku." He glanced at the seat next to Riku and then his eyes traveled to me. I couldn't help but cower under his gaze. The way he looked like he was analyzing me made me uneasy and nervous. He walked towards Riku and me, "How was your summer Rox?" Riku looked at Roxas smirking.

"It was alright," he shrugged at riku, "how was yours?"

"Ahh you know, the usual." Riku laughed as Roxas rolled his eyes. Roxas's eyes wandered to the seat behind me and he stepped over towards me. He looked at me for a moment and then glanced down at my drawing. I shifted in my chair, I rarely showed anybody my art. What if he didn't like it? I resisted the urge to pull the sketch off the desk. His fingers ran over it lightly and something in his eyes sparkled. His thoughtful face scanned the half finished picture. He gave me a curious look and I sunk in my chair. "Did you draw this?" His face had an almost serious expression. I glanced to my left and a couple girls were watching Roxas, whispering and giggling. I nodded at him and looked at the drawing,

"I-I was just _ske-..._ "

I trailed off feeling embarrassed. I searched my head for the English word for _sketch._ Way to look like an idiot Sora. I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off. "It's good." I looked at him surprised as he sat next to the window in the seat behind me. Riku then leaned over curiously and looked at my picture too. He nodded in agreement and went back to playing on his phone. Time seemed to be moving in slow motion, there was still five minutes left until class started. Roxas sat in his seat and was typing rapidly on his phone. I looked back at my picture and continued to sketch the tree. Roxas occasionally leaned forward and peeked over my shoulder at my sketch and then went back to typing. It made me a little anxious, but I didn't really mind. I was almost done with the branches when the teacher walked in and the bell rang. The teacher introduced herself as Ms. Iver. She was light hearted and happy and talked animatedly about the rules of the classroom. When she was done giving the speech I was sure I'd hear seven more times today she told us to introduce ourselves. We just had to go down the row and say our names. She started at the front and each person introduced themselves. "I'm Zack."

"I'm Mary."

"I'm Olette."

"I'm Jared." And on it went until it got to me.

"I'm Sora Hikari..."

The teacher grinned, "Oh! You're the student from Japan! Is your name Japanese Sora?" I was surprised for a moment, but I realized they probably told my teachers I was from Japan. (And it was probably obvious since I looked Japanese and my name definitely wasn't American) I had come to the school to talk to a counselor about my classes last week. I told him my English was okay, but it wasn't great. They probably told all my teachers that I might not be able to speak English well. "Yeah," I looked around at all the different kids staring at me curiously. I rubbed my neck sheepishly and smiled a little, "It means sky..."

Ms. Iver's smile got even bigger, "that's great, Sora!" She then looked at Riku next to me and he introduced himself, "I'm Riku." He smirked as some girls giggled at him and the teacher continued down the row. I did my best to remember the name of each person. Then she got to Roxas. Her bright smile faded away to a more analytical expression. She seemed puzzled, and not in a good way. I glanced back at Roxas who was looking at the teacher seriously. "I'm Roxas." The teacher blinked and she looked upset for a moment but it quickly changed into a small smile. "Thank you Roxas." The rest of the class finished and we got the last few minutes to ourselves. Riku got out of his seat and went to talk to the boy with the black shaggy hair, whose name was Zack… Or at least I thought it was. Roxas got up from his seat and sat next to me where Riku had been sitting. He stared at me for a long moment. His blue orbs flickered back and forth watching me. It was like he was analyzing some animal, trying to figure out what I would do next. "You're from Japan then?" He asked me finally. I nodded a little and looked down at my drawing. "That's cool. It must be hard to move to a different country… with a different language and what not..." He trailed off.

I looked at him and smiled softly, "Yeah, it's a little hard, I like it here though." He nodded and the bell rang. I was a little disappointed. I wanted to talk to him more and know more about him. I gathered up my things and we both looked at each other one more time. "See you around Sora." And with that he turned and walked out of the classroom catching up with Riku. I smiled a little to myself and went to my next class.

 **••••**

I had World History second period. My teacher's name was Mrs. Emerson. She introduced herself and told us her list of classroom rules. She seemed nice enough, but I wouldn't want to get on her bad side. She explained the curriculum and why it was important. I wasn't too worried about this class. I had learned history in Japan and this wasn't any different. When she was done talking she gave us each a sheet that asked what we knew and what we wanted to know. I filled out what I knew with things I had learned in Japan about history, and then filled the other side about what I wanted to know about American history and wars I had never learned about. The teacher came around to collect each of our papers and then gave us the last couple minutes to ourselves. I looked around the room at the different kids. I didn't recognize any of them from homeroom. I checked my schedule for my next class. I had art next. I grinned when I remembered Kairi had art too. The bell rang and I gathered up my things and went to my next class.

It took me a little longer than necessary to find the art classroom. But eventually I found the room in a weird little corner of the school. I slipped into the classroom and picked a seat towards the back. There were three long black tables in five rows. I sat in the middle of the fourth row. Kairi wasn't there yet, so I continued doodling the cherry blossom tree I had started earlier. I had zoned out until I heard a familiar voice, "Just wait till you meet him-" I looked up and saw Kairi with another boy. "Sora!" She pulled the boy over and smiled. The boy wasn't unfamiliar though. I already knew him.

"Hey Sora." Roxas's voice was soft. Kairi folded her arms and pouted. "You guys already met!?" I looked at her and smiled a little.

"He's in my homeroom." Roxas looked at Kairi with an amused look in his eyes, but he didn't smile. In fact, I hadn't seen him smile yet. "No fair!" I laughed as she took the seat to the right of me and roxas took the seat on the left. "I thought I'd get to introduce you guys." Roxas shrugged and looked at the picture I was drawing.

"This is really nice." Roxas stated softly. I looked at roxas and smiled. "I'm gonna copy all your good ideas in art class." I giggled and looked away trying to hide my blush.

"Wow it is good!" Kairi smiled and looked at me and roxas. The bell rang and the teacher walked in. It was an older guy with shoulder length blonde hair and a beard. He came around and gave us each a piece of paper. "I'm Mr. Ansem. I'll be your art teacher for the rest of the year. I just gave you each a piece of paper. I want you to draw some place you find beautiful." Kairi and Roxas looked at each other confused.

"Umm, I can't think of anything." Kairi pouted.

"Something you find beautiful. Is there a place you really like?" Roxas and Kairi looked at me. I shrugged a little. "I think the city is nice. Especially when the sun is setting, and the sunlight reflects off all the windows." Kairi and Roxas made an 'oh' face.

"I like that café a few blocks from here." Roxas said almost as if he was asking a question.

"Oh yeah! That's a good one Roxas. I like the shopping plaza in the city." Kairi said excitedly. We all grinned and started drawing. "This isn't due until Friday so I want these to be your best work. Don't rush. I want to see where you all stand as far as artistic abilities go. So I'll know what you need to learn." The three of us were pretty quiet while we drew. Roxas occasionally looked at my drawing and then went back to his. Towards the end of class our drawing started to slow down as we got tired and started to chat. "So Sora, what do you have next?" Roxas looked at me curiously.

"Um gym… I think."

"Really? So do I." I grinned at roxas. I pulled my schedule out of my backpack and showed it to Roxas. "Do we have any other classes together?" He looked at it for a moment.

"We have Algebra II together too." I smiled at him brightly.

"Aww Roxas is so lucky" I laughed at Kairi as she pouted. We continued working on our pictures until the last five minutes of class. We began cleaning up all our things and I got a chance to look at all of our pictures. Kairi had just finished drawing the lines for the shopping center she liked. There were people in the picture shopping and riding their bikes and the all the stores had pretty window displays. Roxas was still adding down detail to his lines. His picture was of a café. You could see a table in the café next to a window. Outside the window there were people going about their lives in the city and inside the café it was empty besides a cup of coffee that sat on the table by the window. Their pictures were beautiful. Mine was a skyline of the city. I had only just finished drawing the outlines. I was planning on painting it with a sunset in the background. Roxas finished putting his things away and came over to me. The bell rang and I grabbed my bag too. "See you at lunch Sora!" Kairi waved to me and went out of the classroom. I looked back at Roxas and grinned.

"C'mon Picasso, let's go to gym." I laughed rolling my eyes and followed him out of the classroom.

 **••••**

Luckily Roxas knew where he was going and led us to the gym. Some of these classes were seriously hard to find. When we got there the gym teacher was standing in the gymnasium. He pointed to the locker room at the other side of the gym. "Go get changed and come back here." He gave us both locker numbers and we went into the locker room. The locker room smelt like sweat and cologne. "I know, it stinks in here" Roxas looked at me and pinched his nose jokingly.

"How'd you know that's what I was thinking?"

"You're easy to read." He folded his arms in a cocky way.

"I am not!" I covered my face. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Just change." I nodded and pulled my change of clothes out of my bag. We both found our lockers, which happened to be across from each other, and began to change. I took off my dark blue sweater and white shirt and folded them in my locker. I turned around to grab my shirt off the floor and saw Roxas. He already had a different pair of pants on and now he was taking off his shirt. He stared at me for a long moment and I stared right back. He leaned towards me making a serious face, until our faces were inches apart. I felt like I was in a haze, I didn't want to move or say anything. I just gazed at Roxas waiting for him to do something. Loud laughter came from the the doors to the locker room. Roxas pulled away from me slightly and looked towards the sound. I came out of my trance and quickly put on my shirt. Roxas looked back towards me and pulled his shirt on over his head. "You're so weird." We both said simultaneously. I glared at him for a moment and he did the same, but I couldn't keep a straight face. I grinned and laughed and he smirked a little. It was the first time I had seen him smile, but it wasn't really a smile either. He rolled his eyes and went to elbow me but I quickly stepped out of his reach and walked out of the locker room, avoiding eye contact with any other half naked guys. I went and stood against the wall of the gym where the gym teacher was lining everyone up. Roxas followed me out of the locker room soon after. A small girl with brown hair waved at him and he went and stood with her in line as she talked animatedly to him. The gym teacher gave his spiel about rules in the gym, that if you were absent you'd get zero points for the day, you had to participate, blah blah blah. I kinda spaced out for most of it, something was kind of nagging at me, I wasn't sure what though. After about twenty minutes he seemed satisfied with all he had said and split us into two teams. I internally groaned as he tossed a bunch of balls in the center of the gym. "We'll play dodgeball for the rest of class. Does anybody have any questions about the rules? It's pretty simple. If you get hit by the ball you're out, go and stand in line in the order you got out. If you catch a ball thrown you're safe and bring your teammate back into the game from the beginning of the line. The person who threw the ball is out." He looked at as all for any signs of confusion then blew his whistle. "Start!" I hesitated staying where I was as some people on my team ran forward and grabbed balls from the center line and the other team did the same. I watched them ready to dodge if they threw any at me. I noticed Roxas grab a ball and back up away from the line. I hadn't realized he was on the other team before. He looked at me and frowned scrunching his eyebrows together in a confused way. I stepped to the side quickly as a ball flew past me. A boy behind me got hit by it and trudged disappointedly over to the line of people out. I looked back at Roxas who was listening to the browned haired girl from before as she whispered in his hear. He looked at her confusedly and pointed in my direction questionably. She nodded and grabbed a ball as it rolled past her feet. She looked at me and whipped the ball in my direction. It came right toward my stomach, I waited for it to get close then wrapped my arms around the ball holding against my stomach. The girl sighed and went over to the out line. The gym teacher blew his whistle and a boy from my team came back into the game. He had spiky red hair that stuck up in different directions and gold eyes. He stood next to me and grabbed a ball. "Thanks…" He trailed off not knowing my name.

"Sora." I grinned at him and smiled.

"Shiro." He smiled and grabbed a ball on the ground. I turned to face Roxas with the ball from before still in my hands. Roxas bounced his ball in his hands a couple times then threw the ball towards us. Even though it was just a game, it still stung a little. It got closer and I held my ball out blocking Shiro and I. The ball bounced away from us and back towards true other team's side. "Nice! You're not bad Sora." Shiro gave me a small smile and laughed. I grinned and glanced back at the rest of my team. A good half of the team was out already while the other team had only about a third of them out. "They're targeting you Sora. You're doing the best on our team right now."

"Hmm… What should we do?" I looked at Shiro hoping he had an idea of some sorts.

"I'll help cover you, I can't throw well so I'll give you balls. You throw." I nodded. It was as good a plan as any. I watched the other team, Roxas seemed to have the best arm, but some of his other teammates seemed to have better reflexes, but it was hard to say. I took a step towards the other team's side and threw the ball at Roxas' legs. He jumped over the ball easily and threw one back at me. It was a little high. I ducked and let the ball hit the wall behind me. Beside me Shiro caught a ball somebody threw toward us getting them out and bringing in another person on our team. He said he couldn't throw, but he had fast reflexes and was great at carving the ball. They joined my my side and helped throw balls at the other team. I took another step forward and Roxas did the same. Shiro handed me a ball and I didn't hesitate. I whipped it quickly toward Roxas. He was distracted looking for a ball, but the brunette girl from before stepped in front of him not paying attention. She looked like she was going to give him a ball but mine hit her hard in her back. She stumbled forward and fell into Roxas. He caught her easily and looked up at me and frowned a little. The girl whipped around and saw me. "Aww! C'mon!" She stomped agitatedly back to the out line…again.

"S-sorry…" I felt kinda bad and I watched her walk over to the line when Shiro got in front of me and blocked a ball. I looked up at Roxas who got ready to throw yet another ball. He whipped one at my arm and I stepped to the side barely dodging it. Another boy threw one at my leg. I jumped and another ball was thrown at me but hit Shiro instead as he was blocking somebody else. "Sorry Sora." He went over to the out line. Two more came at me and I ducked. I stood up when I figured they passed and saw another ball come at me. It made direct contact with my face. I groaned as it fell to the ground and the gym teacher blew the whistle. "That's it guys, go change. Class is almost over." I held my head and went to towards the locker room. "You alright?" The gym teacher looked at me worriedly. I nodded and smiled.

"Yeah fine." I hurried into the locker room feeling a little sick. A couple kids snickered and some asked me if I was okay. I just nodded and tried to get to my locker but I felt a hand wrap around my shoulder. I turned to see Roxas who was frowning. "Sora, I'm s-"

"It's fine." The words came out colder than I meant them to. I wasn't really mad at him, I was just a little bitter towards the situation in general. My face stung pretty bad.

"I'll take you to the nurse after class." Roxas said, ignoring my comment. I looked up at him and he winced. I hadn't realized until now that he was a little taller than me. Not by much, just an inch or two, but it seemed so apparent now. "You're face is red" his fingers grazed my forehead gently. I blushed and looked down. I was pretty embarrassed. "Go get changed and then I'll take you." I nodded and smiled to myself a little. He sounded like a mom. We both got changed back into our school uniforms and the bell rang.

"It's okay Roxas, I could go by myself." I felt bad for him missing class just to take me to the nurse.

"It's fine, besides you don't know where it is." I couldn't argue with that. He led me to the nurse and we went into her office. A lady with long violet hair sat at her desk. "Hey Roxas," she looked at Roxas then at me.

"Hi Ms. Ashuma. I'm just gonna take Sora back and get him an ice pack." She smiled softly.

"Okay, let me know if you need anything." Roxas took me to the back of the nurse's office where the beds were. He sat me down on the edge of the bed and examined my face for a moment. He was so close I could smell him. He smelled sweet like peppermint. I hadn't really looked at his face so closely before. His eyes looked like the sky on a summer day, and his eyebrows were a little darker than his hair making his eyes pop even more. He had practically flawless skin and his lips were a natural light pink. I looked down when I realized I was staring at him. I had realized before that a lot of people seemed to stop him and try to talk to him. He wasn't cold, in fact he was kind of sweet in a way, but he wasn't outgoing. People probably tried to talk to him all the time though. He was good looking for sure. "You don't think you have a concussion, do you?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so." I kept my eyes glued on the floor as he got up and went over to a small freezer and pulled out an ice pack. He came back and held the ice pack against my forehead. I cringed at the the cold feeling stung my head. I peeled my eyes from the floor and looked up at him. His look was gentle and a little guilty. "I'm really sorry Sora. I didn't mean to hit you in the face…" I smiled at him a little.

"It's no big deal, I'm sorry you have to miss class."

"Eh, it's just chemistry." I laughed at him and his eyes sparkled with something that wasn't there moments ago. He moved the ice pack around a bit patting it on my face. "How's it feel?"

"It's okay, it doesn't sting so much anymore. We can go back to class if you want."

Roxas shrugged, "If it was up to me, I'd stay here for the rest of the day." I laughed and nudged him.

"You gotta go to class, who knows what'll happen if you don't know how many bonds carbon can make someday." He smirked and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. As long as you're sure your head is okay, let's head back then." I nodded and gave him the ice pack which he put back in the freezer and we want back to class. Well, he went back to class, I went to lunch. I spotted Kairi almost immediately, and with her was Riku, the boy who had been in my home room, a girl with blonde hair who looked about the same age as me, and to my surprise, my brother. Kairi waved to me from across the cafeteria. I waved back and made my way over their table. "Sora?" Vanitas looked at me kind of surprised.

"You two know each other?" Kairi looked at us back and forth before she realized, "Oh! You guys are brothers!"

I laughed and grinned, "Yup!"

Then Riku looked at me and smirked, "Hey, you were the one talking with Roxas in homeroom. I met your brother in metalsmithing." Riku look at me with a sly grin plastered on his face.

"Oh my god! How do you meet everybody so fast Sora!? Don't tell me you know Naminé too!" The blonde haired girl looked at me now and smiled.

"No, we haven't met yet. I'm Sora." The girl smiled at me softly.

"Naminé. It's nice to meet you Sora. I'm Kairi's Sister. I've already heard a lot about you." I looked at her worriedly then at the other three.

"What'd you hear about me?" She laughed lightly.

"Nothing bad. Just that you're from Japan, you're a good drawer, annnnnd you get along with Roxas." I rubbed my neck sheepishly as Kairi pulled me down into the seat next to her.

"So Sora! We're planning on going out on Friday, you know to celebrate being back at school together! Will you come too?" Kairi looked at me hopefully with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Sure, I wasn't gonna do anything anyway."

"Yaaaay!" She clapped and smiled at me brightly. "Now we just gotta ask Roxas and we're all set!"

Kairi and I spent most of the lunch chatting about this and that. We connected right away so it was easy for us to make conversation. As we talked I noticed she'd glance at Riku as he talked to Naminé and Vanitas, then she'd look down. There was something in her eyes that was sad yet happy at the same time when she looked at him. I made a mental note to ask her about him next time we were alone. Lunch ended and I gathered up all my things. "See you later Sora." Vanitas waved at me a little and Riku did the same and then left the cafeteria. Kairi and Naminé waited for me and then we left together too. The rest of my day began to slow down. Study hall was long and boring so I just watched videos on my phone. Then I had chemistry, where my chemistry teacher handed out a bunch of papers with information we needed to start memorizing. Like the periodic table, root words, how many bonds each element could make, and so on. It was a little overwhelming but she told us not to worry, that she would help us here and there to learn it and it wouldn't be so bad. The rest of the class she talked about rules for when we went to the lab and things NOT to do. Finally the bell rang and I hurried out of the class. Who knew your first day could be so long? I found algebra II pretty easily (to my surprise) and picked a seat by the window. I watched the sky outside. It was starting to look a little gloomy, like maybe it was going to rain. I turned to find Roxas sitting down next to me lazily. I could immediately tell he was different. He looked at me and sighed. He looked genuinely sad and a little broken. Sure, he hadn't been overly excited before, but he wasn't sad. I frowned at him as he laid his head on his desk. " _What's wrong?"_ I blushed turning red. I only realized I was speaking in Japnese when it was too late. He looked up at me confused for a moment but then smiled a little. It was small and he still looked sad. It was soft, but vibrant at the same time. It was beautiful and somehow he was just meant to smile. He made a soft amused sound. "Sora… what?" He said it amusedly, his smile was gone but there was a small smirk on his face. I couldn't help but laugh at him. He rolled his eyes and elbowed me, "Did you just call me a dumbass in Japanese? That's so rude!"

"Me? Never." I smirked in a sarcastic tone. "I was only saying what an idiot you are."

"Wow Sora, I might just take that as a compliment." We both just laughed despite it not being that funny. The fact that I could make him smile just made me happy. Roxas leaned back in his seat sighing and looked at me. I smiled at him softly as the bell rang and the teacher came into the classroom. He was tall and looked like he was meant to be a gym coach, but changed his mind last minute and became an algebra teacher. He talked in a loud strong voice that made you kind of antsy. He gave us some algebra problems and told us to find a partner. I scanned the room nervously and sunk in my seat. I had been kind of dreading this moment. I didn't know anybody, and I didn't know who to work with. Just then Roxas slid his desk closer to mine. "Wanna work together?" I smiled brightly. Roxas was like a small miracle at that moment. (Though why I couldn't think to ask him in the first place was beyond me.)

"Yeah, sure." He pulled his chair closer to me and we started the algebra problems. It was pretty easy for the most part, I had done it all before. Occasionally we'd get different answers so then we would go through each other's' mistakes and find where we went wrong. "I got x equals 8." Roxas leaned over and skimmed work.

"Hmm… I got 10." He said and pointed to my work, "oh, you just forgot to make this negative." I redid the the problem and got 10.

"Oh yeah! You're right. Hmm… You'd make a good teacher Roxas."

"Oh I dunno… I was just helping you."

We finished the rest of the problems and took our work up to the teacher. He nodded, looking quite satisfied, "You two are the first ones to get them all right, good job. You can just relax until the rest of the class finishes." We nodded and went back to our seats. We sat together not bothering to pull out desks apart. Roxas pulled out his phone and typed rapidly, like he had been doing before. I pulled my sketch out of my backpack and tried to add more to it. I had been lacking much inspiration lately, I would start and get about halfway through something before I lost interest or just didn't know what to do with it. I had never had the problem before, so I wasn't sure why I was lacking so much inspiration. I looked at the sketch feeling a little sad I couldn't finish it. I turned and watched Roxas as he stopped typing and just stared at his phone. He frowned and looked at me. "So you're gonna go out on Friday?"

I nodded, "Oh, yeah… Are you?" He shrugged and looked toward the window.

"Maybe," he paused glancing at his phone again. "If my friend comes…" He trailed off and suddenly he seemed sad again. I sunk into my seat and looked down. Way to go Sora… I flipped through my notebook of pictures, all unfinished. One was of a beach on a small island. There were palm trees and a large tree house, a waterfall, and a dock with some small boats tied to it. I was nearly done with the line work, but never finished the details and shading. Another resembles a small town at night with some shops and people walking in the square. There were multiple pathways and roads going this way and that. Another was a large castle, and there was one of a dark city where skyscrapers reached into the sky and a castle floated in the distance. I sighed frustrated, I wanted to finish all of these, yet despised them all at the same time. Roxas watched me and frowned. "You really are good at drawing." I shook my head.

"I dunno." The words came out a little cold. He looked surprised and touched the notebook. Sadness built up inside of me. Or more like, it had been building up and I felt like a soda bottle that had been shaken and was now slowly being opened to avoid exploding. This really had nothing to do with Roxas, but he was the only one there. Looking at me gently with soft eyes, yet analyzing me at the same time. I pushed the notebook away from me sadly. Roxas watched me calmly. Roxas placed his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. I just stared at him as he stayed completely calm. He slid my notebook back to me gently. Immediately I felt terrible and awkward. "I'm sor-"

He shook his head and opened to the tree in my notebook. "It's okay." He turned to face me now and I felt more awkward than I had felt all day put together up until this point. I hardly knew Roxas, yet we had been together a lot in the time of one school day. I felt like somehow we knew each more than we should've for being together for such a short time, and at the same time I felt like I didn't know Roxas at all. He could've been a serial killer and I would have no idea. That was pretty unlikely, but still. I was so unsure suddenly. I had felt naturally comfortable around him, and despite his quiet analyzing personality, he had been kind to me. Now I felt like I was burdening him, being the "new kid". I wanted to get to know Roxas, I wanted to be his friend, but who was I? He could hate me if he wanted. I took a deep breath attempting to collect myself. Roxas still looked at me. Now I just felt sad… Maybe I had some sort of guy PMS. I wanted to say something but the teacher got up from his desk. The class had finished their algebra and the teacher went over the algebra problems for the rest of class.

 **••••**

The bell that ended 8th period rang throughout the school. I gathered together belongings when the English teacher motioned me over to his desk. My heart sank in my stomach. We had just been doing some basic practice grammar problems and reading some excerpts from books, and I pretty much did terrible. I stared at the ground as I stood before the teacher. His voice was kind, "Sora, I know you're new, and from what I've heard Japanese is your first language." I nodded. " I can tell you're trying, and you're doing good considering you moved here not long ago. I think what you need is a tutor. I teach an 11th grade honors English class. They're all nice kids and they are doing a year long project this year where they write about an experience they've had. Tutoring would definitely be a good experience, and it would definitely help you. Please consider it." He pulled a paper out of his desk with a list of names on it. "This is all the kids in my class. You could ask one of them, but if you can't find anybody just come to the class and I'll find somebody to help you." I nodded thankfully and put the paper in my pocket.

I got outside to the front of my school where Kairi waited for me. I had changed out of my school uniform and into a pair of shorts and t-shirt. She had also changed and was now wearing jean shorts and a tank top. The uniforms were nice and all, but they were a little hot to wear around and I'm pretty sure none of us wanted to have to wash it if it got dirty already. She waved happily when she saw me, "Sora!" She giggled and glimpsed me as I approached her. "Ready to go home?" I nodded agreeing. It had been a long day and. I was ready to go home for sure. We got on our appointed bus and went home for the day.

The rest of my week dragged on a bit but it wasn't too bad. I talked to Kairi a lot, and Roxas and I talked here and there when we were together. By the time Friday rolled along I was more than happy to go out. I met Kairi out at the front of the school. She waved to me happily when she saw me and when I got up to her she threw her arms around my neck pulling me down. We lost our balance and I fell backwards pulling her down with me. We laughed loudly as we got strange looks from other students. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." I nodded smiling and helped her up from the ground.

"Great! We're just waiting to see if Roxas is gonna come." She pulls me over to a large tree that had a bit of an umbrella shape, but not entirely. We sat under the tree that shaded us like a tent. We watched as Riku came out of the school in jeans and a tank top and Naminé followed not far behind in a white summer dress. Vanitas walked with Riku also wearing jeans and a t-shirt. We all waited under the tree until a familiar spiky haired blonde emerged from the school. He wore a thin grey hoody that was rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of dark jeans. On his left wrist he had a checkered bracelet and on the other he had a few friendship bracelets. He had black and red high tops on and he had black earrings in both ears. (Probably not in before because of dress code.) His backpack hung from one shoulder and he had a skateboard tucked under the other arm. Kairi waved happily to him. He came over and looked at all of us for a moment before pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Axel said he'll come." There was a small silence for a moment that was a bit awkward. The air grew tense but quickly Kairi lightened the mood, "Alright! We're all going then." Roxas nodded and looked at me. You know that awkward moment when you meet somebody outside of school and suddenly you're not sure it's even the same person. It wasn't that what he wore didn't fit his personality, honestly he looked very 'Roxas', but he just looked different. Like, in school he was stuck inside a box, and now he was free. I must've been staring pretty hard because he leaned closer to me and raised an eyebrow. I trembled beneath him. "R-Roxas…" I managed to squeak out. He made a soft hmm sound. "I… Your earrings are nice." He looked confused and pointed to his ears questionably. I nodded quickly and looked down.

"Oh, thanks. I can't wear them in school. You know, Dress code."

"C'mon Sora! You too Roxas! Let's go!" Kairi grinned widely and pulled me to my feet. I laughed and followed her and Roxas walked beside her quietly.

"How was your day Kairi?" I walked a little faster to keep up with her.

"Oh, it was fine! How about you?"

"It was good, I guess. Pretty typical first week stuff." She giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, get lost, meet some mean teachers, fall in the hallway, get hit in the head…" She coughed and nodded towards Roxas.

"It was an accident!" Roxas put his arms up defensively. Kairi looked at me and we both laughed.

"Sure, it was Rox." Kairi smirked wickedly at him. "Say Sora, how's English?"

"Oh, umm…" I looked down at the ground, which was lined with stones that varied in grey tones. "My teacher said I should get a tutor," I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper with the names on it. I handed it to Kairi, "he said somebody from his class could tutor me." She eyed the paper for a moment and frowned.

"Honors 11 English, Only person in that class I know is…" She went down the list then looked up excitedly. She spun around to face Roxas. "Is Roxas!" Roxas looked up at the both of us, and then at the list.

"Oh yeah… I'm in his class." He glanced at me curiously.

"You're in Honors English… For eleventh grade!?" He nodded slightly, but stayed silent.

"He really likes writing." Kairi filled in for his empty answer.

"Oh! That's awesome." Kairi nodded in agreement and looked at Roxas happily. Roxas took a step towards me and looked at the paper.

"If you want, I could-" Roxas got cut off by a loud voice.

"Hey guys!" I looked up to find a tall guy, who looked 19 at the oldest. He had fire red hair and bright green eyes. Kairi stayed silent, but Riku smirked and waved, "Hey Axel!" Roxas smiled softly, different than when he smiled before. Something about his smile was so happy, yet so broken.

Axel came over to us and grinned, "So this must be Sora. It's great to meet you. The name's Axel, got it memorized?" He pointed to his head and smirked.

"Y-yeah! It's nice to meet you too." My voice died off as I finished.

"We've been friends with Axel since last year. We met him when he was a senior, he's in his first year of college now." Kairi explained. I nodded in understanding. Axel smirked and folded his arms. He seemed alright… But something seemed weird about him at the same time. If I had met him someplace by myself, I probably wouldn't trust him.

"He's also Roxas' boyfriend." Riku pointed out. Roxas blushed brightly and looked away. My jaw might as well have laid on the floor. Axel laughed (probably at my expression) and nodded.

"Yup." He ruffled Roxas' hair as Roxas swatted at his hand. I stared at Roxas. Honestly, it wasn't that Roxas was gay that surprised me, but that Roxas had a boyfriend at all, and an older guy at that. It's not that he wasn't boyfriend material, in fact he was good looking, sweet, and caring. He probably made a great boyfriend, but somehow I just couldn't imagine him dating someone. Roxas looked at me in my still shocked state and frowned a little. "What is it?" He sounded almost hurt.

"O-oh! Nothing, I just didn't think you had a boyfriend…" I trail off awkwardly. I definitely didn't want to hurt Roxas' feelings, or give him the wrong idea.

"Aww, Sora don't be sad, I'm sure Axel will share." Kairi nudged me playfully, smirking. My face heated and I looked away nervously.

"N-no I… _was just_ …" I covered my face with my hands as I felt my cheeks get even redder. Everybody giggled and Kairi squeezed me tightly.

"Aww! Isn't Sora adorable!?" Kairi smiled brightly.

"You made him so embarrassed he spoke in Japanese…" Riku pointed out very matter of factly.

"Aww, sorry Sora." Kairi pouted and hugged me tightly. I slowly pulled my hands away from face and looked at her. Roxas looked at me for a moment, but then followed Axel into the ice cream shop. Kairi smiled and pulled me in after them. "What are

You gonna get Sora?"

"Oh um… I dunno, do you have a favorite?" Roxas turned around towards me and looked like he was about to say something, but Axel tapped his shoulder grabbing his attention.

"Oh! We really like the sea salt flavor, it's really good. Sweet, but salty." Kairi smiled softly.

"Okay, then I'll try that." I smiled a little and we all ordered our ice cream. Riku, Roxas, Axel, and Naminé all got sea salt, and even Vanitas agreed to try it. Not far from the ice cream shop there was a small park that looked out on the ocean. We all sat together and ate our ice cream, watching the water crash against the wall below us. The ice cream was unique, at first I wasn't sure but the more I ate it, the more it grew on me. Salty, but sweet. It was good. We talked about different things like school (college for Axel) or the occasional questions to me or Vanitas about Japan. Roxas and I didn't talk much, I mostly talked to Kairi and Vanitas, and occasionally Riku. Roxas and Axel talked a lot, along with Naminé. Axel occasionally kissed Roxas' neck or nuzzled him, causing Roxas to blush brightly. It was weird to see Roxas that way, almost vulnerable. He seemed like he had too many walls built around him to give in to somebody like that. Every time he would touch Roxas she would throw glares in their direction, but never when Roxas was looking at her. It was weird, Kairi was so kind, but she obviously didn't like Axel. Later when the sun was starting to set she pulled Axel aside. Roxas looked at them then at me, he scooted over next to where i was sitting and looked up at the sunset. "It's kinda amazing, isn't it?" I went to say something but got cut off by Kairi shouting.

 **••••**

 **A/N: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I apologize for any errors in the story, if you see anything please let me know! Please let me know what you think of the story so far and any constructive criticism you have! 3**

 **NOTE: If it is in italics that simply means they're speaking in Japanese (This was the best idea I could come up with that didn't involve me trying to translate English to Japanese and the reader trying to understand what he was saying.)**

 **EDIT: I revised the story a bit, nothing too important. Though, I might suggest skimming through it if you've already read it. Hope to fill in some more background and fix any errors! :)**


	2. Stay

I follow Kairi down the street. The late summer breeze tingled my skin and the light cast from the setting sun made everything glow. She whipped around to face me angrily. Her face was red and her eyebrows were scrunched up at the center. "I can't believe him," she clenched her fists tightly, "can you!?" I looked at her feeling a bit lost. We had spent the day hanging out and everything was good for awhile until she started fighting with Axel. She had been talking with Axel before (not sure about what) and somehow it escalated to an argument. Nobody seemed phased by it, apparently they never got along. Axel had walked away angrily and went over to Roxas (probably to tell him what they argued about). The air was tense and people were casting each other angry glares. We all decided that it was about time to head home to avoid any 'accidental' deaths. I offered to walk home with Kairi since we lived near each other. Vanitas decided to come with us too, Roxas got a ride from Axel, and Riku and Naminé a went to Xion's house. Apparently Xion was another friend of there's but closer with Naminé than the rest of them, and she went to a different school. Kairi huffed angrily. "Ugh, I don't know what Roxas sees in him. He such a… Ugh!" She threw angry glares at no one in particular for a while. Eventually she began to relax a little bit. She took a few calming breaths and her anger faded to a more sad expression. Vanitas frowned but stayed silent. I put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Roxas… He deserves better." She said softly looking at the ground. I hadn't seen Kairi and Roxas talk to each other much, but it seemed like they had been really close at one point and the whole Axel thing didn't help their relationship. I didn't want to judge Axel straight off the bat, but I honestly had no desire to try to get to know him. He seemed pushy and a little overbearing. Kairi didn't seem like the kind of person who would just dislike somebody either. She sighed and looked at me, "Sora… Will you do something for me?"

"Hmm?"

"Try to help him… Okay? He needs it." I assumed she was talking about Roxas, but I wasn't completely sure what she meant. Roxas obviously wasn't the happiest person in the world, which was strange because he had a natural sweet side to him. I wondered sometimes why he was so sad. I nodded in agreement. Though I wasn't sure if I would be able to help him at all. She smiled and seemed to have calmed down. Vanitas was still quiet, he seemed deep in thought. When we got to Kairi's house she hugged me tightly and waved goodbye, before heading inside.

Vanitas made dinner once we got home. "They're pretty cool, huh?" Vanitas asked as he picked at the fish he made. I nodded in agreement. "How were your _classes_?" His English gradually slid into Japanese.

"Oh it was pretty good, _English kinda sucked,_ " He nodded as I continued. "The teacher said I should get a _tutor._ " He scoffed and rolled his eyes. He was ever the big brother. I pouted at him. "The thing is, it's an _eleventh grade_ class. I don't know any of them. _I might ask Roxas though._ He's in that class."

"That's a good idea. Roxas seems pretty cool, say, didn't he hit you in the head with a ball?"

" _Oh yeah!"_ I laughed as my brother rolled his eyes again.

"I like him even more now." I punched him in the arm as I got up from the table and put my plate in the dishwasher. He did the same and I went upstairs to take a shower.

 **••••**

The next couple weeks carried on at a decent pace. I spent a good bit of time with Kairi. We really just got along well. We always had something to laugh about or something to complain to each other about, or just plain ramble on about our nonsense. She was always happy to see me and I felt the same about her. We just belonged together, and everybody knew it. Not even a whole month into school, and the art teacher commented on our inseparability, "two peas in a pod." Kairi laughed, I had to have her explain the phrase to me. I only had a couple classes with Riku, but when we saw each other he was always sure to give me a small smile. He was friendly and during one lunch period made it clear that if anybody gave me trouble he'd have my back. It was like having a second older brother. My brother and him were closer more than him and I were though. Vanitas and I saw each other occasionally, but not that often since he was two grades ahead of me. I hardly ever saw Naminé, and she was quieter so we didn't talk much, but occasionally we'd talk about school or our friends, she was always kind to me. As for Roxas, well… if you asked me I'd probably say he was avoiding me. I couldn't blame him though, I was avoiding him too. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him, I did. We had gotten along well and I wanted to be (Possibly more so than with the others, though I wouldn't dare to admit it.) friends with him. But somehow, there was just an awkward tension between us. Nothing had happened and I think we both knew that, but at this point I didn't want to take the first step to break the ice that had formed between us. It was strange, as quickly as we became friends, we separated back to acquaintances. Don't get me wrong, we still talked and we got along well, there was just an awkward tension between us. Somehow it felt like the small incident between Kairi and Axel made it like we were on opposite sides, and one of us was on the bad side. Though in my heart I knew, if I were to choose a side I wouldn't choose good or bad. I would simply choose his side.

I sat in homeroom looking out the window, Friday morning. The streets were quieter today and the sky was grey. There was a soft pitter patter of rain falling outside. I turned to my notebook and began to sketch a dark street with one lamppost and rain pouring down. I looked at the rough sketch and sighed. Riku sat beside me and was scrolling Vine watching different videos occasionally snickering, and when he found one particularly funny he would lean over and show it to Roxas and I. Roxas would lean forward next to me and watch it over my shoulder, he never really laughed, normally he let out a small snort and went back to what he was doing. I pulled away from my sketchbook and turned around to look at Roxas. He looked up at me from a notebook he was writing in. His expression was soft and confused. "Hey Sora." He said softly. I smiled at him.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Roxas shook his head.

"Nothing… You?" I shook my head as well. We both looked at eachother for a moment then looked away awkwardly. I turned back around and continued to sketch lightly in my notebook. I heard him let out a soft sigh and continue to write in his notebook. I had noticed he was always writing, whether it was on his phone or in his notebook, it didn't matter. I suppose if you thought as much as he did, you had to write at least some stuff down, you couldn't possibly retain everything. Not to mention, he was apparently great at English and loved writing. I sorta envied him for that, I was pretty terrible at English and never had really been the best writer, even in Japanese.

The bell rang and I gathered my things and hurried into the hallway. I was about to head to World History when I remembered what my English teacher told me the day before. He asked me to come to his classroom after homeroom so I could get a tutor. I was honestly dreading it. I had purposely avoided asking anyone to help me, hoping it would get me out of the embarrassment. Of course life was not so kind. You know, sometimes teachers think they're doing the right thing, but really they're just embarrassing you. This was just like that. I went to his class and stood by his desk awkwardly as his class filled up with 11th graders. I sighed and looked at the ground as some gave me confused looks and others rolled there eyes. Not to mention, the few girls that pointed and giggled.

 _I hate high school._

"Sora?" I looked up to see Roxas looking at me curiously. He leaned closer to me as if he wasn't sure it was me. "What're you doing?" I took a deep breath trying to calm down. In a matter of seconds my heart had sped up and I felt a bit worked up. I had completely forgotten that Roxas was in this class.

"I have to get a tutor…" I said it quietly, not wanting to draw any attention to myself.

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot, I meant to-"

"Take a seat Roxas." The teacher walked in as the bell rang. Roxas gave a soft sigh and went to his seat frowning slightly.

"Everyone, this is Sora Hikari. He's in 10th grade and he moved here from Japan."

 **• • • _Roxas_ _•_ _•_ _•_**

Sora flushes as the teacher explains where he's from and what grade he's in. He shifts awkwardly and his gaze travels to me. "He's in my tenth grade English class, and he could use some help with English. He needs a tutor, and I thought one of you could tutor him. It would be a great experience to write about for your essay of the year. A couple of them groan at the mention of the essay. I watch Sora, waiting for the teacher to finish. The truth was I meant to tell Sora I would tutor him before, but I never got around to it, and I had completely forgotten until now. "So, is anybody interested?" I hesitate going over in my mind what exactly to say. That's a mistake. Everybody begins to talk at once, half of them not even on the the topic of the small brunette standing at the front of the room.

"I mean I would-" one person starts but then is cut off.

"How do you tutor him if he speaks Japanese?"

"He speaks English dumbass."

"He needs help with class." Sora fidgets at the front of the room and he still watches me, but I don't make direct eye contact with him.

"I-" I begin to say something but I'm cut off.

"He's kinda cute." A girl giggles from the back.

"I already-" cut off again.

"What the fuck Mary?" Sora looks like he's trying to stop himself from having a mental breakdown. I wouldn't be surprised if he had an anxiety attack in the middle of class. Sure, Mr. (English teacher) was trying to help, but sora was only a tenth grader and new to the school, currently being harassed by a bunch of eleventh graders. It was kinda strange. Sora had the the kind of personality that was super outgoing and kind, but the whole new kid situation clearly made him antsy and being Japanese didn't seem to help. Despite that, people were naturally attracted to Sora and we're always stopping him to talk to him. He had the kind of personality that made you happy when you were around him. I was definitely willing to bet he would be borderline 'popular' by the end of the year. None of that mattered though, because this situation seemed like a bit more than he could handle.

 _Fucking high school._

"Sora is-" I try to speak only to get cut off again. I roll my eyes completely annoyed by the situation. The teacher must finally realize Sora's anxiety as he quickly hushes the classroom. "Did you have something to say Roxas?" Everyone turns to look at me expectantly. I blink and shift awkwardly, I just wanted to talk, not the whole class' attention. "I umm… I know Sora, I can tutor him." I spit the words out and the teacher grins. Sora looks like he's been saved from hell… Multiple times. He looks at me gratefully with a bright excited smile on his face. I had to admit, he had the best smile- of anybody, hands down, though I probably didn't deserve it. I could only return with a small half smile.

"Thanks Roxas…" He said it softly but I could hear him.

"Alright, thank you Roxas, that'll work out well then." The teacher smiles and looks at Sora. "That's that then, you can go back to class Sora." He nods, glancing at me one more time before leaving. I pause for a moment realizing just who Sora is, and just who I am. I took a deep breath as uneasiness settled in.

What did I just get myself into?

 **• • • _Sora_ _•_ _•_ _•_**

Me and Roxas met again soon in art. I honestly couldn't have been more grateful to him. Not only was he agreeing to tutor me, but he was saving me from all the other people who wanted tutor me. I decided then that the 15 minutes in their class was more time than I'll ever want to spend with any of those people. In art we were just drawing in perspective, where it gets smaller the further away it gets. It was kinda cool but it wasn't my favorite kind of drawing.

"Aww that's so great you're gonna tutor Sora, Roxas!" Kairi cheered happily. He nodded in agreement, focusing intently on his picture.

"Roxas I don't know how to thank you. Seriously, you should have seen all those eleventh graders Kairi." He looked up at me now.

"It's no big deal… Speaking of which, when do you wanna do that?" He asked with a soft undertone of something in his voice, it was kind but I wasn't sure what it was.

"Oh, it's up to you." I hadn't really thought about it.

"How about after school on Fridays, my place?" I smiled and nodded.

"Sure that sounds fine." I replied happily.

"Okay, cool."

We all finished up our pictures and turned them in at the end of class. The rest of my day went quickly and before I knew it, Roxas was waiting outside the school for me, ready to go. He had changed out of his school uniform into ripped jeans and a black hoodie with a checkered middle pocket and cuffs. I had changed into jeans as well and a red t-shirt with a blue jacket. The temperature was finally starting to slide into a bit cooler weather several weeks after school started. It was raining at a steady pace now and he was hiding under a tree. I waved to him and hurried over under the tree pulling my hood up.

"You ready to go?" He also pulled his hood up and had his skateboard tucked under his arm. I nodded and he lead me out the school gates and towards his house. We covered our heads trying not to get too wet.

"So you skateboard Roxas?" He looked at his skateboard and then back at me.

"Yeah," he paused for moment looking like he was thinking. "Have you ever skateboarded?" I shook my head. "Hmm… you should try it later, you know when it's not raining… You know so you don't slip." He began to ramble but caught himself and went silent.

I smiled at him happily, "Really? That'd be awesome!" He nodded and we picked up the pace towards his house as the rain got heavier. Luckily it wasn't far from the school and soon we crashed into his house just as it began to pour outside. We breathed heavily as we had started to run when we got close to his house. He looked up at me and made an amused sound. "Hmm? What is it?"

"You look like a wet dog." He said softly smirking a little. I wrinkled my nose and elbowed him playfully.

"You smell like a wet dog." He scoffed and rolled his eyes shoving me lightly.

"Whatever." He said in an angry tone but was still smirking. I laughed and took off my shoes and placed them next to the door. It was a habit I had now. You always took your shoes off in the house in Japan. It was rude anyway to track mud in somebody's house. Roxas watched me and then took his shoes off too copying me like a little kid. His house was nice, the living room where you walked in was painted a light grey with a blue undertone. There was a long dark grey couch with a couple white and blue pillows. A coffee table in front of it and the wall opposite of the couch had a large TV that sat on above a marble fireplace. On a shelf next to the TV there was a Wii and PlayStation 3, both hooked up to the TV. It was all enough to make you drool. To say his house looked nice was an understatement. It looked like something straight out of a magazine, even the decorations were perfectly on point. But it was still clear Roxas was living here, like an empty soda can on the coffee table and some discarded games on the ground by the TV. "My parents are out of town, so it's just us." Roxas plopped down on his couch.

"You're alone?" I frowned a bit at the thought. It seemed lonely, and for some reason I felt that Roxas was the last person that should be lonely. He seemed like he should've had somebody close to him at all times.

"Yeah." I sat down next to Roxas as he set his backpack on the ground next to him. I followed and did the same setting my backpack by my feet.

"Aren't you lonely?" He looked surprised at my sudden question.

"Umm… Nah, I'm used to it. They're not around much." Roxas pulled a textbook out of his backpack and set it on his lap.

"Yeah, my parents were always gone with work." I paused thinking for a moment, "You don't have any siblings?" Roxas' eyes widened and he looked at me.

"No." His voice was harsh and cold. He looked angry and he squeezed his hands into fists. I was taken back by his reaction. I immediately felt bad, knowing I was asking in matters that were none of my business. I must've looked as sorry as I felt, as soon as Roxas looked at me his expression softened. He rubbed his arm nervously and avoided eye contact. "Umm… Do you want something to drink? We have soda, iced tea, umm…" He trailed off looking at me gently.

"Can I have some soda?" He nodded and went to what I assumed was the kitchen. I went over to the window and watched the street as the rain got heavier. It was going to be a serious pain walking home later if the rain didn't lighten up. Roxas came back with two cans of root beer and handed me one. I took it gratefully. "Thanks Roxas."

"No problem. Here, let me show you around the house." Roxas lead me into his kitchen, which had marble counters and was a pretty decent size, from the kitchen he took me to his dining room. Together the three rooms basically made a circle around the staircase that went up stairs, the staircase was between the kitchen and living room in a small hallway and the dining room was behind it. He took me into the small hallway where there was a coat closet and then the stairs. He took me up the stairs and showed me where the bathroom was. He pointed out his parents' bedroom and an extra bedroom and finally he showed me his. He had a paper taped on his door that said 'Roxas' in a graffiti style. I smile a little at the picture, clearly drawn by him. He lead me into his room which was painted grey. His bed was pushed against the wall with a black and white striped bed set on it. His desk was black and had a nice looking laptop on it along with some textbooks and a jar of pencils and pens. He had another skateboard tucked under his desk besides the one he had coming to his house. There were a lot of shelves and bins separating different things he had and there were pictures of quotes covering the wall. It was pretty unique and it fit him. He had a bulletin board above his bed that had pictures of him and his friends on it and different notices to himself or random little things like pins. His room was mostly black and white with accents of red, like in the curtains or the pillows on his bed. It was sleek, and very Roxas. I stepped toward his bed to get a better look at his pictures, there were a few of him and Kairi that seemed a bit old. He looked younger in a lot of his pictures. There were some from when he was very young, like of him riding a skateboard, he looked about 11 or 12. He looked really happy. I saw one of him when he was really small, maybe about 4, it had been torn and was taped back together. There was a more recent looking one, probably from over the summer, with all of them. Roxas, Kairi, Riku, Naminé, and Axel. I noticed then that that was the only one of him and Axel together, which seemed a little weird. Why wouldn't he want pictures of Axel up there? Roxas stepped up next to me as I gazed at all the pictures. "Your room is really nice Roxas."

"Oh thanks." He paused from a moment looking at me. "I need a picture of you too." He thought for a moment then went over to his laptop. "Here, Kairi sent me one of you two the other day. He pulled up the picture of me and Kairi. We were walking home together after getting ice cream and she had taken a picture of us. He resized the picture and printed it out, the picture came out nice and was about the size of a photo. He cut it out easily with scissors on his desk and pinned it on his bulletin board. "There." I smiled at him brightly. It made me happy that I meant enough to him for him to put a picture of me up there. It was a pretty adorable thing to do. I could've hugged him right then and there. Of course I didn't. He looked at me and rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Let's go study your English then." He said softly.

"Yeah." I followed him back downstairs where we both sat on the couch next to each other.

"So, do you have any homework? Let's work on that first." I nodded and pulled my binder I have for English out of my backpack.

"I have a vocabulary list that we'll have a test on next week and I got this book. I have to read two chapters for Monday." I frowned as I pulled _A Tale of Two Cities_ out of my backpack and showed it to him. He nodded and leaned closer to me looking at the book.

"Okay let's read that first.," He paused before continuing. "I think the best way would be for you to read a page and then you can tell me what you don't understand, I should be able to help you through it then."

"Okay, and thanks again for helping me Roxas." I really appreciated him taking his time to tutor me when he didn't have to. He nodded as I opened the book to the first chapter.

"It's no problem. I figure you'd do the same for me, right?"

"Right." I smiled brightly and began reading the first page.

 **"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only…"**

 **••••**

"So here he's basically saying here that he doesn't understand what 'recalled to life means', that's all."

"Ohh, I see. I think I get it." I smile at Roxas realizing we had finished both chapters. I sighed in relief and grinned. "We're finally done."

He nodded, "Yeah, you did good, and you'll only get better at reading it." I grabbed my phone from beside me and unlocked it tapping in my birthday. 0213. I gasped a little as I realized the time. It was already five and all we had done was read the book.

"Sorry that took so long…" I apologized softly. Roxas shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, it's better to take our time to make sure you understand it. Reading in general will help your English get better." Roxas got up from the couch and walked over to the window watching downpour outside. We could hear the pitter patter of rain and a soft whistling from the wind.

"Do you think it's a hurricane?" I asked him curiously. I had lived too far inland in Japan to ever experience a real hurricane, but I knew we were definitely close enough to the ocean to have one now.

"Hmm..." Roxas grabbed the remote to the TV and clicked it on flipping the channel to the local news. The news anchor's voice rang out in a typical news anchor manner.

"As you can see wind speeds are picking up here," he pointed to the map he stood in front of showing us the different colors that indicated wind speeds. The map changed to one that showed rain. "It's heading west towards Delaware, New Jersey, and the south of New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The impact is expected to be bad with a lot of flooding and high winds, stay inside everybody." The news cut off to a commercial as Roxas peered out the window. I looked at him worriedly, but he didn't seem scared at all. He turned to face me.

"It's pretty bad, come look." I got up from the couch and joined him at the window. Rain poured down creating huge puddles on the street and trees whipped back and forth in the wind. I had seen hurricanes on the news before, and I knew New York was notorious for getting flooded in the East. The sky lit up brightly and thunder crackled making me jump. Roxas touched my arm gently to steady me.

"Maybe I should head home before it gets worst." I definitely didn't want to burden Roxas by getting stuck at his house.

Roxas raised an eyebrow at me, "You're kidding right?" I blinked a few times, not really sure what he meant. "Umm, you'll drown OR get blown away, there's no way you'll make it all the way back to your house. It's in the complete opposite direction of the school."

"It's only going to get worst though." Roxas frowned and looked back outside. He seemed to think for a long moment then looked at me almost sadly.

"You can just stay here Sora." he said softly in a kind voice.

"I wouldn't want to um…" I stumbled over my words trying to remember the term. "Impose…?" I rubbed my neck sheepishly.

"You're not, I'm offering. Besides, imposing is better than getting blown away in a hurricane, right?" Roxas's mouth stayed at an almost sad frown but his eyes sparkled for a moment. I had never seen somebody smile with their eyes until then. My heart leapt in my chest at his small gesture.

"Are you sure it's okay?" Roxas nodded in an insisting way that said he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Positive." He glanced outside again watching the rain. I took a deep breath and smiled thankfully.

"Thanks Roxas." I paused before grabbing my phone from the couch. "I'll call my brother real quick." Roxas nodded before seeming to find interest in something else and walking out of the room. I dialed Vanitas' number which I had memorized at this point and waited for him to pick up.

 _"_ Hello?" Vanitas' voice carried over the phone. He sounded disinterested and somewhat annoyed.

" _Hey Vanitas."_

 _"_ Oh, hey Sora. What's up?" His tone lightened a bit, but still sounded uncaring.

" _The rain is really bad, and I'm at Roxas's house, so I'm just gonna stay with him."_

 _"Oh okay. That's cool, I'm actually out with Riku and some of his friends and we're pretty much stuck too."_ As Vanitas continued on about how the streets outside were starting to get flooded Roxas walked back into the room. He watched me patiently waiting for me to be done on the phone. He had completely captured my attention, and I had long since forgotten about Vanitas on the other end.

"Sora, _hello?_ Are you listening to me? I swear I'll kick your-" his voice got louder pulling me out of my trance.

" _I'm here, I'm here! Quit yelling."_ Roxas smirked at me as I spoke in Japanese.

"Ugh, okay I'll let you get back to… whatever is you're doing with Roxas…" I heard a soft snicker in the background that sounded an awful lot like Riku. "Don't get into any trouble, I'll see you tomorrow."

" _Yeah, yeah. Bye Vanitas."_ I hung up and looked up at Roxas who was just smirking like he had won some sort of competition. "What's that look for?"

"Huh? What look?" He stopped smiling at looked at me curiously. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Never mind." Roxas shrugged and sat on the couch turning to the side so he was facing me. I sat next to him but avoided his eye contact. I always found myself staring when I looked him in his eyes.

"I put some frozen pizza in the oven, is that alright?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." I looked at him, quickly breaking my no eye contact rule. His eyes said so much, all kinds of feelings hid behind them, along with all his memories and events that had come and past. He had eyes that seemed like they could see into anything, and tear it apart to it's core, yet they were so gentle. "Pizza is good…" I added awkwardly trying to break the silence.

"Okay. So, did you want to study more?" I shook my head honestly. I was pretty tired of studying at this point.

"Definitely not." I said grinning at him. He looked amused and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, let's play a game." Roxas looked over at the consoles that sat on the shelf.

"Oh yeah, that sounds awesome." We both got up to grab one of the systems and went over to the shelf that they sat on.

"Hmm which one?"

"Oh um, I dunno. Do you have a favorite?" I looked at him curiously and after thinking for a long moment he nodded.

"Yeah, I like Smash." I smiled and nodded in agreement.

"That's a good one, let's play that."

"Okay." Roxas proceeded to take the Wii and hook it up to his TV and slid in the disk. He gave me a blue controller and he grabbed a black one for himself. We settled back onto the couch as the game started up.

"Thanks again for letting me stay, Roxas." He glanced at me before continuing to start a game for the two of us and choosing a character.

"It's not a problem, besides…" He chose Kirby to fight with before continuing. "I would've been alone anyway." Some part of his voice was sad which in turn made me sad. It must've sucked, he didn't have any siblings and his parents weren't ever around. The most company he ever got was probably Axel, and somehow that didn't seem all that satisfying.

"Yeah, now we can stay up all night and play Smash." I stick my tongue out at him, earning me a light elbow to the arm.

"Pick your character already." I obliged and picked Cloud. We chose a spot to battle and ended up battling for a good 30 minutes winning back and forth. It was amusing and we were equally matched with each other. Each time one of us would start to win more the other would catch up with them. We were in the middle of choosing characters when the oven rang telling us the pizza was done.

Roxas set his controller down and stretched, falling backwards lazily. "I'll go get the pizza." He got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. I set my controller down next to me and grabbed my phone. No notifications besides a text from Kairi.

{ "Omg Sora are you still with Roxas? Don't die in the hurricane! :p " }

-Kairi

I smiled and quickly texted her back.

{ "Yeah, I'm with Roxas. We're stuck. O_O 私は満足しています" }

-Sora

I threw some Japanese in the text just to mess with her. She always had fun putting the Japanese in Google Translate and trying to figure out what it meant. Half the the time I just put nonsense though. She replied back quickly.

{ "OMG tell him I said hi, and to take care of you! Actually I'll call him and tell him myself. XD" }

-Kairi

Before even a minute passed I could hear Roxas' phone ringing in the other room. I got off the couch and got closer to listen.

"Hello?" I couldn't hear what Kairi was saying to him, but hearing Roxas was enough. "Yeah, he's here…" He paused listening to her. "What? Yes I'm going to feed him what do you thi- …"

"What!? Eww no! …"

"What's wrong with you!? Yes I'll- what no I don't-" he let out a loud breath in exasperation. I held my breath quietly, doing my best not to laugh.

"Kairi I-" his voice dropped to a whisper and I had to strain to hear him. "No! I'm not going to do anything to him, now will you leave me alone!?" I heard him sigh and say goodbye and hang up. I quickly went back to the couch to wait for him and sent Kairi a quick 'Lmfao'. Roxas trudged into the living room and handed me a plate of pizza. He looked exhausted after talking to Kairi. "Here, I hope the pizza is okay."

"Thanks Roxas." I smiled thankfully and took a bite of the pizza, which tasted amazingly greasy and American. There was something just really satisfying about pizza. Roxas noticed I was practically inhaling the pizza and smirked. We sat in silence for a moment until his phone rang again. He scowled and I couldn't help but laugh. He glared at me, "I swear I should kill the both of you!" He answered the phone and held it up to his ear. "Kairi, I swear to god I will-" he paused and I couldn't make it out but I could hear a guy's voice on the other end. "Oh… Hey Axel, sorry I thought you were Kairi." I tried not to stare at him while he talked to Axel but I was totally curious about what Axel had to say. I grabbed my phone and pretended to play a game on it while I listened to them. Roxas sat up straighter and listened to Axel. "Yeah, I know Axel, but I'm stuck now and Sora's here." Roxas sounded kind of exasperated as he talked to Axel.

"Well… No. I was tutoring him." Roxas paused and I could tell Axel was raising his voice. "There's a hurricane, I think you'll live." I could hear Axel yell more over the phone making Roxas frown. He stood up from the couch angrily, "What the hell do you want me to do!?"

"Whatever Axel!" Axel continued to yell over the line and now I looked up at Roxas who just pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up. He took a deep breath and sighed. I watched him sadly remembering what Kairi had said about Axel. Somehow I knew Roxas deserved better. Roxas looked at me and frowned. "Sorry Sora, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay. I get it, boyfriend problems." Roxas nodded weakly. He looked upset now and I just wanted to make him feel better. "It's too bad though. You have a boyfriend and he still gets PMS." It was a poor attempt to make him feel better but he seemed to appreciate it.

He smirked, "Tell me about it. Oh, do you want some more pizza? You were enjoying it before we were so rudely interrupted." He accentuated the last part being dramatic. I giggled and nodded following him into to kitchen. He grabbed two pieces of pizza and gave one to me. We must've been hungry because we both just stood there in the kitchen eating our pizza. "I really don't get him…" Roxas mumbled to himself. I frowned and looked up at a clock that hung on his wall. It was 7 now. Once I finished the pizza I had I put my dish in the sink and Roxas did the same. Roxas started to wash the few dishes that were left in the sink, so I tried to help him clean up by putting the leftover pizza away. He finished washing the dishes and turned to me, "Thanks Sora." I nodded and smiled at him. "C'mon you wanna play some more-" the lights flickered catching his attention. He frowned and looked around waiting to see what would happen. Thunder boomed outside and all the lights went out. I jumped, letting out a surprised sound which I was definitely not proud of. It was already dark out so the windows did nothing to help see in the darkness. I heard Roxas groan and followed his voice and my eyes did their best to adjust to the darkness. "Sora?" Just as Roxas called my name I collided with a body. I grabbed it instinctively.

"Roxas?"

"I swear, that better be you Sora." I laughed earning another groan from him. What I assumed was his hand settled on my arm and gently lead me forward. I stayed close to Roxas not wanting to walk into anything. He seemed a lot more comfortable and knew where what was, considering it was his house. I held onto the cloth of his shirt and followed him onto the ground when I felt him kneel down. I squinted in the darkness as I heard his hands fumble around with something until finally I heard a click. A fire erupted in front me causing me to jump slightly. It illuminated the room and let off a cozy heat. The room lit up in an orange glow that was beautiful in its own way. I turned to Roxas who smirked slightly, "Let there be light." He said softly. I giggled watching him stand up from the ground. "Thank god for gas fireplaces, right?" He held his hand out to me and helped me up from the ground. I nodded in agreement. He carefully went over to the coffee table that had a drawer at the bottom and opened it pulling out a flashlight. "I'm gonna go get something comfy to wear," he paused thinking for a moment and gestured for me to follow him. "You can borrow something of mine if you want."

"Okay, thank you." I followed him carefully up the stairs to his room. He peered into his closet using the flashlight to light the way. Roxas turned to look at me up and down, making me fidget. "I'd say we're close to the same size, yeah?" I nodded. We were definitely close, but he had about an inch on me and was just slightly taller. He pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a light pullover hoodie. I took it as he grabbed something similar for himself and handed me the flashlight. "Here you can get changed in here I'll- umm… Wait." He stepped out of the room and closed the door.

I smiled to myself and quickly changed into his clothes. They were just a tad big on me, but they were comfy and warm. The pants were a plaid red and the hoody was black. They smelled like peppermint too, just like him. I grabbed my clothes and the flashlight and went out of his room into the hallway where Roxas was already changed. He must've just changed while he was waiting. He set his clothes by the door to his bedroom. I did the same and handed him the flashlight. "C'mon, let's go back downstairs." Roxas motioned for me to follow him and we carefully went back downstairs. He took a lighter and quickly lit a few candles here and there helping to light up the room. The room glowed in the candle light. "Well, this is kinda lame." He frowned and looked out the window at the storm. Rain poured down heavily making puddles on the streets and the wind tossed everything this way and that way. "Oh I know, we could watch a movie." Roxas said nonchalantly.

"Umm… But the power is out." Roxas rolled his eyes in return.

"I know that, but my laptop is charged, we could watch a movie on that." I laughed as he gave me his best 'I'm not an idiot look'. He grabbed his laptop that was plugged into the wall and brought it over to the couch. We sat close together so we could both see the computer on his lap. He opened it and picked from a few movies that were downloaded on his computer. "These actually all suck, but I guess we'll have to settle since the Internet is down." Roxas picked one and looked unamused as the movie started. It made me think he was probably picky about movies. He seemed like the kind of person that it took a lot to impress, he wasn't into just anything.

"I swear if this is porn Roxas…"

"Haha. Very funny." He rolled his eyes and moved close to me getting comfortable. The movie wasn't terrible but it was all that interesting either. Roxas' body gave off a warmth that spread through me. I leaned against him and every part of me that touched him burned. The silence settled around us and the only sounds was the movie and breathing. I was so comfortable and happy. Before long I drifted off to sleep.

 **••••**

 **A/N: Hey hope you enjoyed this chapter! Lots of cuddles for Sora and Roxas! 3**

 **Please let me know if there are any errors or mistakes! Any thoughts you have are also appreciated!**

 **I've revised the first chapter since I first posted it, nothing major, but I added a few details and fixed some mistakes here and there. I might suggest just skimming through it or rereading it just for some extra backstory and what not.**

 **I won't revise this chapter again like I did with the last so no worries. The next chapter should be up within the next month. :)**

 **Hugs and kisses from Sora and Roxas ~**


	3. Come Back Soon

When I woke up I felt light shining on my face. I cringed and hid my face in my pillow. I was particularly warm and comfy and nothing was gonna get me out of bed right now. I snuggled into my pillows more as I listened to their breathing. It was even and soft and… my eyes shot open finding a certain blonde sleeping next to me. The panic in me began to calm. It was just Roxas. I had stayed at his house because of the hurricane. Speaking of the hurricane, the sound of rain was gone and there were no longer whistles from the wind. I looked back at Roxas who was still sleeping. He looked so peaceful sleeping and the light made his skin glow. Footsteps outside broke me out of my trance. What time was it anyway? The sound was loud enough to cause Roxas to stir. I heard somebody pull at the door trying to open it. Roxas's eyes opened slowly and he peered up at me. He looked confused but the sound at the door grabbed his attention. We were still tangled up together and neither us tried to move still hardly awake. "What…" Roxas looked at the door confusedly. I heard the door unlock and as it opened Roxas and I glanced at each other then back at the door. I tightened my grip on Roxas, slightly fearing an unwanted visitor. Axel stood in the doorway and looked around for a moment before finding us on the couch. Roxas and I practically died. We might as well have thrown each other across the room. I didn't think it was humanly possible for me to pull away from him as fast as I did, especially in my sleepy morning state. Roxas coughed and put his head in his hand looking embarrassed beyond belief. "H-hey Axel…" We both breathed heavily now sitting on opposite sides of the couch. Axel looked at us back and forth weirdly. "Hey Roxas, Sora." I squeaked and nodded at him. I heard my phone ring and I jumped up from the couch and grabbed it answering it quickly. I wanted nothing more than to do anything besides look at Axel. "Hello?"

"Sora? Hey!" Kairi said happily.

"H-Hey what's up?" My voice came out shaky.

"Nothing much, just making sure you didn't get blown away in the hurricane. Why do you sound like you've seen a ghost?"

"Close enough. Anyway, I gotta go I'm still at Roxas's."

"Aww Sora's first one night stand." I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Talk to you later, Kairi." I hung up and looked over at Roxas and Axel who were now causally talking. My phone beeped with a text from Kairi.

{ "Forgot to ask, you wanna go out later?" }

-Kairi

I smiled and texted her back quickly.

{ "Of course 3" }

-Sora

It was 10 AM already. I turned to look at Roxas who was now standing by himself. "Axel went to the bathroom." Roxas said quietly. Something about him was different now. I frowned a little.

"Is everything okay with you and Axel?" I looked at him worriedly as he was looking a little heartbroken.

"Yeah, we umm… We're okay." Roxas looked down at the ground rubbing his arm.

"That's good…" I paused and put my hand on Roxas' arm lightly making him wince, but look up at me nonetheless. "Thanks again for tutoring me and what not Roxas." He smiled a little, but it was sad. He wasn't in front of me anymore. He was on some other planet. I squeezed his arm gently which brought his attention back to me.

"Don't- I mean we…" he paused trying to collect himself. "It was nice Sora, I don't mind helping you." The word helping caught my attention. Helping wasn't the same as tutoring, it was different. I smiled, ignoring his choice of words, and he looked even sadder. I didn't know what had changed. He had been happier yesterday. I honestly didn't want to leave him, but at the same time I thought he'd be better off with Axel. My stomach twisted at the thought.

"Yeah it was." I paused watching his expression. "I think I'm gonna go though, Kairi wants me to go to out with her." Roxas watched me and looked down at the ground.

"Yeah, okay. I'll go get you your clothes."

"Thanks." Roxas walked away and went up stairs. My heart wrenched and twisted in pain. Was it my fault he was so sad? There should've been something I could do. He came back down with my clothes and handed them to me. I took them gratefully.

"You can just change in the other room if you want." I nodded and took my clothes into the small den by the living room and shut the door behind me. I stripped down out of Roxas' PJs that were still wonderfully comfortable and I was putting on my jeans when the door opened. I looked over to see Axel standing in the doorway mischievously. Talk about déjà vu. Twice in one day too.

"I uhh… Err I was just changing…" I squeaked embarrassedly.

"Oh of course, sorry." Axel said nonchalantly and walked away. I was starting to think I was in some sort of twilight zone. I quickly finished changing and hurried into the living room and put on my shoes which I had left by the door. Roxas watched me quietly and Axel waved. "See you later Sora."

"See you, Axel." I went out the door and Roxas stepped outside with me for a moment. It was the first time we had been outside since the hurricane,storm branches were scattered on the ground and garbage cans laid in the street. Down the street I could see a tree that had fallen over. There were still puddles on the ground but the sun was out and shining brightly. I looked at Roxas and smiled. I really did have a nice time with him. "I'll be out with Kairi, so if you feel like coming to meet us later, that'd be cool." Roxas nodded.

"Yeah, and I'll have to take a rain check on our skateboard session." He smiled softly. He paused thinking and looked at me sadly. "And if nothing else, I'll see you at school. Okay?" I nodded and smiled at him brightly. His voice was kind of pleading, as if being apart was dangerous. He was holding onto something, but I couldn't tell what it was. His face was a mixture of feelings as he leaned towards me sadly. Without thinking I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Okay." I pulled away quickly and smiled. He punched me in the arm playfully, but still hard enough to bruise.

"You're an idiot." He smiled back and maybe for the first time since I met him, he looked genuinely happy. I waved and headed home.

• **•••**

Kairi and I sat in the food court at the shopping center. We had both bought lunch and smoothies. (We really knew how to spend our money.) "Wait, he walked in while you were changing?" Kairi asked surprised.

"Yeah, it was really weird." She had demanded every detail from the night I spent with Roxas and this morning.

"Eww, go back to the part where you and Roxas were cuddling." I blushed brightly and glared at her.

"I-I already told you we weren't cuddling!"

"Then why are you blushing?" She laughed as I covered my face.

"I'm not! I swear Kairi I will call Riku." I smirked mischievously at her. After spending a few weeks with her it became pretty apparent that she liked him, no explanation needed.

"Oh my god no!" I laughed and rolled my eyes. When I asked her about Riku she tried to deny liking him, but we both knew she was a bad liar. She pouted before laughing as well.

"So, I am curious, how did Roxas and Axel get together?" I looked at her as her giggles died and she gave me a sad expression. Her blue orbs traveled to the table as she frowned. Her small fingers tapped her leg before she looked back up at me.

"I guess you would want to know. Well… Where do I start?" She paused before continuing. "You know, Riku, Naminé, and I have been friends for a long time. We've gone to school together since kindergarten. We never met Roxas until freshman year, and same goes for Axel. So, Roxas didn't know any of us actually. I met him last year, he was umm… Well, he wasn't as happy as he is now…" She trailed off looking and looked back down at the table. I frowned at the thought. Roxas wasn't very happy to begin with. He wasn't sad or angry a lot, but I wouldn't say he's always genuinely happy. He was always kinda distant. How could he have been less happy?

"Really? Wh-" I wanted to ask why, but somehow I knew I'd be asking the wrong person. Only Roxas could really tell me.

Kairi nodded and continued, "Anyway, Roxas was in a really bad place and I think more than anything he needed somebody to care for him. So, when Roxas met Axel, Axel knew exactly how to make Roxas feel loved, and like he cared about him. Roxas and Axel grew pretty close and we were all happy for them but…" Kairi clenched her fists and she looked like she might cry. "He- Once they started dating- Sora, you have to know, Axel, he's not doing Roxas a favor and I don't think- He's just taking advantage of Roxas and Roxas could do so much better but…" Kairi teared up and looked at me sadly. "Roxas doesn't want to lose anybody close to him. He doesn't know how much he's worth, he just…" I nodded and cut Kairi off by hugging her. I didn't need to know any more. I didn't want to know any more. My heart pounded in my chest and my eyes stung. I wasn't sure I ever felt this way. The more I got to know Roxas the more I thought I should know more about him. I never imagined I would feel so afraid of his past. To my own surprise, at that moment I didn't want to know Roxas's pain. I tried to take deep breaths but as Kairi began to cry into my shoulder my heart broke. I held her tightly and cried with her. We stayed like that for a long moment.

She pulled away and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. I did the same and we both took deep breaths as we calmed down. Kairi looked at me with a strange look before shaking her head. "You really are something Sora." She said in her light, happy, Kairi voice. She smiled weakly and grabbed my hand tightly. "C'mon, let's go shopping to blow off some steam." She pulled me out of the food court and towards the first store.

• **•••**

"Wow, these boots are so cute." Kairi held up a pair of Uggs to show me. We had been shopping for hours now and it was 5 in the afternoon. There wasn't a store we had passed and now we were in Journeys. She was having a fit over all the Converse, Vans, and Uggs they had in here. "Wow I might get these, Sora you should get a pair!" I raised an eyebrow at her curiously.

"A pair of Uggs?" I asked confusedly. They were a little girly for me.

"What? No, silly! Like, a pair of converse!" She grabbed a pair of blue ones and held them up for me. "Like these! They would look great on you!" I laughed as she continued to gush over the shoes.

"Those are pretty nice." I said looking at the shoes closely. She turned and smiled at me. A soft song began to play from Kairi's pocket.

"Huh?" She pulled her phone out of her bag. "Oh, it's Roxas." I looked at her curiously as she answered it. "Hello?" I could hear a soft voice on the other end that definitely sounded like Roxas.

"Hey Roxas, what's up?" Kairi frowned a little and nodded even though Roxas couldn't see her. I checked out and bought the blue pair of converse while she talked to him.

"Yeah, are you okay?" She nodded and listened to him for a bit.

"Of course! Sure that sounds awesome."

"Mhmm, he's still with me." She grinned at me and winked.

"Okay, see you later Roxy!" She hung up and smiled brightly at me.

"Roxas is gonna come out with us, I figured we could go get dinner or something. That sound okay?"

"Yeah, but isn't he with Axel?" She shook her head.

"He said he wanted to get out for a bit, maybe they fought again." I nodded and frowned. "C'mon we're gonna meet him at the subway."

We walked to the subway closest to the store and waited where he would get off. It was crowded with people and was kinda dirty. I was still getting used to living in the city like this, but it definitely wasn't too bad. We were chatting about where we could get food when a group of people got off the subway. Amidst them I saw Roxas who spotted us easily and waved a little. He pushed through the people and made his way over to us. "Hey Kairi." He looked at Kairi and then at me. "Long time no see, huh Sora?" I stared at him confusedly. I went over the words quickly in my head.

"Uhh… What?" Roxas looked at me just as confused. Kairi looked at both of us then rolled her eyes laughing.

"It's just a phrase Sora, it means he hasn't seen you in a while." I looked at Kairi then glared at Roxas.

"Well why didn't you just say that!? And we were just together!" Roxas grinned and laughed. Kairi looked a little surprised and smiled softly. I frowned, " _Baka." ((A/N: Idiot))_ Roxas and Kairi both laughed and Kairi hugged me tightly.

"C'mon let's go get Starbucks." Kairi said happily and dragged me with her, Roxas following close behind me.

It wasn't hard to find a Starbucks when their was one on every corner. We went into a small Starbucks on the corner that was crowded. They were always crowded in New York. "What're you gonna get Roxas?"

"Hmm?" Roxas turned to look at me then looked up at their menu. "Oh, um probably a caramel macchiato." I frowned at the long name and looked back up the menu. "What about you?" Roxas asked softly. His hand was resting on his shoulder lightly and he had a small frown on his face.

"Umm, probably tea." Roxas nodded and rolled his shoulders wincing a little. I thought maybe his arms were sore, but I had spent almost all day yesterday with him and he hadn't done anything that would make his arm sore.

"What would you like?" The barista asked sweetly. She had long dark hair and bright green eyes. She looked about our age maybe one or two years older at the most.

"Can I get an earl grey tea?" The girl smiled brightly.

"Of course. Your accent is super cute by the way." I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked away trying to hide my blush. I could hear Kairi giggle softly behind me. I didn't even know I had an accent.

"Th-thanks." I smiled and paid her quickly and went over to wait for my drink. Kairi followed soon after me. I looked at her panicking. "Do I really have an accent?" She rolled her eyes laughing.

"Strongest accent I've ever heard." She said proudly. I frowned and turned to Roxas as he walked over.

"Do I have an accent Roxas?" He folded his arms thoughtfully.

"Um… I dunno. You sound sorta… Foreign?"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean!?" I frowned sadly and Roxas quickly put his arms up defensively. Kairi watched smiling and looking entertained.

"N-No I just mean- English obviously isn't your first language." I frowned more and turned away from Roxas.

"Fine, well I'm not talking anymore"

"What- wait a second…" He took a step towards me and I turned away. He huffed angrily and turned away too facing a picture on the wall. I smiled a little and winked at Kairi. She stifled a giggle and grabbed my drink for me as the barista called my name.

"Here you go Sora."

"Thanks Kairi." Roxas whipped around and glared at me.

"I thought you weren't talking!" Roxas pointed at me. I grinned stuck my tongue out at him. "That is so not funny! I thought you were upset!" He glared daggers at me.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's your fault though… My English isn't that bad." I looked down at my tea as I gingerly sipped it.

"No, there's nothing wrong with your English. It's like she said, your accent is cute." Roxas said matter of factly. I choked on my tea as my stomach did a somersault and heat rose to my cheeks. Kairi snorted and laughed at Roxas.

"Oh my god Roxas, that's such a gay thing to say." She giggled smiling at him.

"What? N-No that's not what I…" He covered his mouth blushing brightly.

"Aww Roxas it's okay, it's not your fault, everybody thinks Sora is cute." He glared at her and if my cheeks could've gotten any redder they would have.

"Shut up Kairi!" She laughed and hurried out of the coffee shop. Roxas and I followed her out onto the city street.

"Hey we should go there to eat!" Kairi pointed at a small restaurant down the block.

"Yeah." Roxas and I said in unison.

• **•••**

We each paid for our food and went outside into the now dark to street. "I guess we should head home." Kairi said happily looking at both Roxas and I. We nodded in agreement. We were on the opposite side of the city from where our school was and we were far from home.

"Let's go together." Roxas said softly.

"Actually, Naminé is near here, so I'm gonna go meet her at her Xion's house. You guys go ahead home." Roxas and I looked at eachother skeptically.

"Are you sure? Will you be okay?" Roxas asked softly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. She's just down the street." Kairi grinned.

"Okay, but be sure to text us as soon as you get there." I told her in a strict voice. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, see you guys later." She waved and went down the street. Roxas turned to face me.

"Let's go then." I nodded and followed him. We found a bus stop nearby that was going to the other side of the city. We got on the bus and sat together towards the back. Roxas sat by the window and I sat next to him by the aisle. The ride was going to be about an hour at this time of night, but we figured it would be better than taking the subway, it's a little creepy at night. The last thing I wanted was to get mugged. Roxas leaned his head against the window and looked outside at the city. His expression was soft and thoughtful. The city light gleamed against his face. I realized then that he wasn't just decent looking, he was beautiful in a way. His features were perfect and his skin was flawless. His bright blue eyes sparkled and his hair looked soft. I felt my stomach flip and my cheeks heat up. I quickly looked down at my lap, not wanting him to catch me staring. I took a few deep breaths trying to stay calm. Roxas yawned tiredly and looked at me quietly. I glanced up at him and he smiled softly. My stomach flipped again. I smiled back at him. I felt so nervous, but it was a good kind of nervous. He leaned his head back against the window and closed his eyes tiredly. He looked peaceful for once and didn't seem to be worried about anything. He hadn't said anything about Axel… But that must've been why he was upset before. At least he seemed happy now. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. I fell asleep listening to the soft hum of the bus.

• **•••**

I opened my eyes tiredly to the bus still driving in the city streets. I was comfortable and warm. I rubbed my eyes tiredly. It took me a minute realize I was leaning against something soft and warm. I lifted my eyes to find Roxas. He was awake and looked kinda like he was in pain. His eyebrows were scrunched up a bit and he looked like he was clenching his teeth. It took me a minute to realize I was laying on his shoulder that had been bothering him all day. I pulled away from him quickly. His eyes traveled to me and he looked surprised by my sudden movement. "R-Roxas, your shoulder, I-"

His eyes widened, "W-What about my shoulder?"

"It's hurt, isn't it?" He looked at his shoulder then back at me.

"How-" He paused looked at me like I was crazy, "Wait, what?" He sounded almost angry.

"I could tell it was bothering you." I said softly. He looked at me for a moment and then his expression softened and he looked at me in a caring way.

"You knew?" His voice was soft like silk, I hadn't realized before how nice it was. I nodded and his cheeks reddened. He turned away from me so I couldn't see his face. "You… You really are something else Hikaru." He stayed quiet and didn't look at me. It took me a while to muster up the courage to say something.

"We're on last name basis now?" He finally turned his head back towards me. He smirked a little and elbowed me playfully.

"Well you know," He paused for a moment looking at me, "And just so you know, you weren't hurting me. It's the back that got hurt. So, if you were comfortable I don't mind…" He trailed off and looked away blushing. I couldn't help but smile a little. He looked cute when he blushed. I backtracked in my head for a second. I thought he was cute? Roxas was still looking out the window and was visibly red. His shoulder _was_ comfy. I slid closer to him and gently laid my head against his shoulder. His warmth spread through me. Roxas looked over and blushed at my gesture. He sighed and leaned his head against mine. I felt so happy then, and I could've stayed like that with Roxas for a long time.

Roxas shook my shoulder as the bus reached a stop, "Hey, this is our stop Sora." I pulled away from Roxas, who I had been laying on. We both stood up and followed the few people getting off. We stood on the sidewalk as the bus doors closed and continued down the street. Roxas turned to face me, "Looks like we have to part ways Sora." He put his hand on his hip and gave me a gentle look. After spending so much time with this boy, my friend, Roxas, it felt so wrong to leave him. Some part of me was still worried about him, about what was bothering him, and if I would ever hear his story from his mouth. Did I even want to hear his story? Maybe I would never know. The blonde, in a matter of weeks, had made his home in my heart. Why did his presence make me feel happy, flustered, and out of place all at once.

He made me nervous, but I didn't dislike the nervousness. It was like it was trying to remind me something important. I worried that I would never remember. Being in New York was changing me and I was finding parts of myself that I never knew I had or that I thought were lost long ago. I felt like a little kid on a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. In so little time I found a new home and made it my own. The lights of the city shined brighter than ever and my heart was racing. I was so drawn to Roxas, and I didn't want to leave.

Even now, I couldn't bring myself to move or say anything. Roxas frowned a little and looked around. "Sora…" I blinked and met his eyes, that, despite everything, were bright like the sky and deep like the ocean. In the moonlight his skin practically glowed. He ruffled my hair and pulled me a little closer to him. "C'mon you gotta go home. Vanitas must be wondering where you are. Do you want me to walk with you?"

"Huh? N-No, I'll be fine. Hey, speaking of which…" I began, but Roxas cut me off.

"Kairi already text me, she's okay." I smiled softly thinking of Kairi. "Now go home already, geez. Don't you have anything better to do than talk my ear off?" He folded his arms in annoyance.

"You're the one still standing there!" He rolled his eyes as I glared at him.

"Yeah, I guess I am. See you around, Hikaru." He turned around and began walking in the other direction.

"That's Sora…" I mumbled to myself. As he walked away I felt panic bubble within me. This wasn't goodbye right? Even if I were to go back to Japan, would we still be together? "Hey wait!"

"Huh?" Roxas turned his head slightly but not all the way around to face me.

"Err… I'll see you Monday." He continued walking and brushed me off with a wave of his hand. I pouted at his lack of answer and walked in the opposite direction towards my house. Though, in years to come he would swear on his life he did answer me and that I just had bad hearing. Of course, who's to say really?

"I know _Sora._ "


End file.
